Custom tailored clothes can provide a better fit and finish than “off the shelf” pre-made clothes. However, obtaining a customer's measurements traditionally required visiting a tailor, in person, to be measured. This is a barrier to obtaining custom tailored clothes. Customers can be asked to provide their own measurements, but such measurements are prone to error and the measuring process may still take a long time.
When shopping online for “off the shelf” clothing, customers frequently order a range of sizes, anticipating that the items which do not fit will be returned. This creates costs for retailers and inconvenience for customers.
Computer systems have been developed to measure a person through use of a camera and sensor array, such as is found in the Kinect® product by Microsoft, Inc. However, such systems generally require the use of multiple sensor arrays arranged around the subject, require the subject to disrobe, require time for scanning and processing the scan data. Such systems may require hardware which is not commonly available to individuals, may require a private space, may cause psychological discomfort, embarrassment, create security issues with respect to digital images of the disrobed subject, and measurements from such a system should still be verified prior to use.